Redmond in January

This weekend, we visited with my folks in Redmond. Saturday night, Mark and I took their dog out for a walk. We were pleasantly surprised by stars in the sky; a snow storm had been dusting the place and we thought--to paraphrase Shakespeare--the heavens would be thrifty and all their candles would be out. Jupiter blazed in the zenith, outshining ruddy Aldeberon in near-by Taurus. The Big Dipper stood on its handle; the handle's arc pointed where Arcturus hid below the horizon. The other way, the bowl pointed at Polaris and beyond to Cassiopeia. In Eugene, Cassiopeia is pale and colorless; in Redmond, all the stars had shades of blue and red.

Sunday morning was a difficult one. I'm didn't sleep so well, and I accidentally discovered the snooze function on the Dancing Girl Music. So, instead of arising to write, I snoozed. Twice.

I did some non-manuscript writing, still recumbent on the couch I slept on. But my heart wasn't in it and I went back to sleep because A) an extra hour of sleep wouldn't be a bad thing, and B) it's Sunday, and if I am going to choose an early morning not to write, Sunday morning might as well be the choice.

I also was thinking about the story I'm working on and how the character's motivations aren't clear -- resulting in both the protagonist and antagonist suffering from stupid character syndrome. I was awake enough to ask, "If he's a powerful magician, why does he need to bribe her to follow him into the temple?" and "If she's worried about her boat and doesn't completely trust him, why does she go with him?" but not awake enough to be able to answer the questions.

(In typing this at the end of the day, I can see that I need a third character to address this. Answers: "He doesn't need her if he can make use of his assistant instead" and "She follows him in because she's nosey and pushy enough to want to help the assistant." And now I have tomorrow morning's scene to work on.)

I woke up about two hours later, feeling, if not refreshed, at least like I'd gotten enough sleep. I've come to the conclusion writing at 5 AM in the morning works better if one has gone to bed at nine than eleven. Oh well.

We had some fun in the snow--I got some pictures that I'm going to have to post once I get them uploaded.